But no - The Rock were determined that my week of feminist rage should never end. To be fair he mention of "the Rock" in the news in itself is like a lighthouse warning that rocks of misogyny are ahead. They did after all used to have billboards which said "We gave you something to listen to while your girlfriend was talking" (printed on the t-shit of a woman while not showing her head - naturally).
But now they have started a competition to 'win a wife':
The winner of MediaWorks' The Rock promotion will fly to the Ukraine for 12 nights, be given $2000 spending money, and be able to choose a bride from an agency.There are really no words besides 'gah' and 'argh' and obviously their obnoxiousness is in part seeking an outraged reaction.
But what got me were the questions you have to answer to enter the competition. A large number of them ask about the various things contestants have done to 'score'. And then:
All women are nuts, but what can you tell us about your craziest Ex that sets her apart from the other nut-jobs?The internal contradictions of a masculinity which hates women but requires hetrosexuality are so stark that whenever I try and think about it my brain short circuits.
It's like women are bogs of eternal stench with islands in the middle. And sex is catching a butterfly on one of those islands taking it home and pinning it on your wall for your mates (who are very judgemental about bog smells) to see.
It seems so ridiculous, so contrived, so obviously not connected to anything real or true that I find it hard to understand how this house of cards stands.
And it doesn't quite stand. The Rock, and beer ads, enforce masculinity in ways that dance so close to parody - and a sturdy house wouldn't need this sort of scaffolding. Our radical notion that women are people is a powerful counter-weapon.
* I have had lots of rage about the treatment of minimum wage workers both by the government and their employers. Tomorrow maybe.
5 comments:
Labyrinth analogy ftw. :)
This promotion really is sick making. Scuba Nurse has done a good job of taking it apart and supplying links to advertisers as a way to complain
http://history-herstory-scubanurse.blogspot.com/2011/02/win-wife-wtf.html
And Im offering an EVEN BETTER prize wife than they are now!
If you cant beat them join them right?
Those ukranians are tots sluts, I'm sending my winner to Burkina Faso for a wife.
Why risk getting one who isnt a virgin?
http://history-herstory-scubanurse.blogspot.com/2011/02/scubanursenz-win-wife.html
Just a quick note. I feel like I’m shouting into a storm, with few voices beside me.
Please please please at least twitter the advertisers.
or at a bare minimum the Rock and Lufthansa (the airline supplying flights).
It’s awfully lonely here on the frontline.
I don't think they dance close to parody so much as plunge over the edge. It's a deliberate act of provocation. A close call, but I reckon it's better not to rise to the bait.
Especially with their "people are going to get their knickers in a twist" comment.
It just demonstrates deliberate provocation. Maybe they think people will pay attention to them.
Thank you to ScubaNurse for the info on who to target.
Post a Comment